The Road to
by Eraasay
Summary: A mission leads to a great jungle adventure and parhaps the City of Gold, or a powerful ally...Teal'c POV, SG1, one OC...
1. USAF or NASA

The Road to...

Chapter one

...USAF or NASA

Teal'c pushed open the heavy door into the briefing room. The rest of his team was already there, seated around the polished wood table. The tall, dark-skinned Jaffa went and sat next to DanielJackson. Apparently an argument was already well under way.

O'Neill seemed very indignant and was having trouble acting subordinate to General Hammond. "What moron decided that!" he all but shouted.

General Hammond interrupted, "I told you, this just came in from Washington. We don't even know if this isn't just a clerical error, Colonel."

"Have you ever heard of a clerical error that switched Air Force rations for astronaut food!" jack demanded.

The General was clearly becoming frustrated. He tried his best to bring the situation back under control. "Now, Colonel, it does not matter why it happened. We just have to deal with it until I can fix the problem."

But jack did not seem to hear. He turned to Sam, sitting on his other side and asked, "Carter, have you ever heard of an Air Force base being sent food meant for NASA?"

"Uh...no, sir." she answered.

"See! It just doesn't happen! It's not like we're at McDonalds and they got our order wrong. We should find out who was behind this..." O'Neill continued to rant.

A little bit confused, Teal'c turned an inquisitive look to DanielJackson.

He pushed his glasses up on his nose and explained what was going on in a slightly annoyed but resigned tone, He told his friend, "Astronauts can't eat normal food in a zero G environment, so they have this special packaged food, Which, apparently has been sent to the SGC and now that's all we have to take off-world."

"Oh." Teal'c looked back up towards the head of the table where Hammond had just decided to let O'Neill vent for a few minutes. Sam looked like she thought the situation was kinda funny but awkward and she just wanted to get on with the briefing.

Jack was saying, "...was probably some good-for-nothing paper-pushing jerk who read 'Stargate: used to travel huge distances between stars' then realized that stars are in outer space. So us travelers should eat space food."

"Are you finished?" General Hammond asked.

"...Yes, sir." said Jack.

"Good. Then let's continue this briefing," he said, "You may begin, Dr. Jackson."

Teal'c decided that this was probably not the best time to inquire as to if astronaut food would include ice cream.

AN: Hey, if ya'll like this, I can post more! This is only the begging, the real story has yet to start!


	2. P3X4921

The Road to...

Chapter 2

... P3X-4921

Daniel started his presentation. He was explaining the historical aspects of what their mission was going to be and where they were going. They were searching for an ancient city of riches hidden deep in a jungle.

It was El Durado, the city of gold. Hidden away in the heart of an endless rainforest, the city is beautiful and full of gold and valuable jewels. Nobody has seen it for thousands of years and some used to say that it is protected by an Aztec god, the Gold King, also called El Durado.

Daniel told them how the story had come from Central America, and that some writing on ancient ruin actually hinted at the city—or the legend. SG-5 had documented with digital pictures some ruins they'd found on the planet P3X-1576. Their pictures showed glyphs that were very similar to Aztec. Daniel, working with a team from South America, had managed to translate some of the writing. It recounted the story of El Durado. The most exciting thing they had recovered was the beginning of a string of Stargate co-ordinates. The rock the symbols had been carved in had been broken so only five symbols remained.

"We're not sure, but the edges of the rock look like they might have blast marks from a Jaffa staff weapon." Daniel was saying, "Using the dialing computer, Sam found all of the possible combinations that would connect, using the symbols we found, with Earth as the point of origin."

Sam continued talking from there. She told the team, "We got three positive locks with the possible Stargate addresses. One, when we sent the UAV through, was apparently in the middle of a rainforest. The UAV crashed into some really tall trees, but we think this world might be it."

General Hammond drawled, "Teal'c have you ever heard of this city?"

This whole time Teal'c had been trying to remember something he had heard once years ago. The Tau-ri, they always were wanting him to recall legends and rumors and myths from the Jaffa culture.

"I once met a man who was from a ship that had been beyond known space. He spoke of many things, and said something about fighting in a jungle." Teal'c paused for a moment, unsure of weather it would be wise to add that he had actually interrogated and executed the man who had been accused of heresy and insanity.

"Most people think the El Durado was just made up by the Spanish so they could conquer South America, but we may have found it!" Daniel concluded. He was clearly enthralled with the whole thing.

"Well, not quite yet," General Hammond said, "but that is what you are going to P3X-4921M to find out. In two weeks you are to send a report back, detailing your progress and any technology or resources that you find."

"Yes, sir." O'Neill said as they were dismissed from the brief.

AN: Hi! Okay, the next chapter is better! Tell me what ya'll want to happen or whatever!

Wait a minute! Here's the Disclaimer! The TV people own Stargate, not me! Duh... but there you go!


	3. Lots of Trees

The Road to...

Chapter 3

...Lots of Trees...

Blue-silver energy whooshed and fell back on itself, ponderous ripples dancing across a horizon line. Teal'c's boots clanked on the metal ramp and then outer space bent and twisted itself to let him through, pinpricks of light blurring. Whirling through continuum, an instant passes before his combat boots touch soft ground.

Looking around, at first all he saw was green. They were in the middle of a very dense rainforest. The trees were huge and very close together. Everywhere was huge green and blue and yellow leaves, ferns, vines, and flowers. There were also crazy-looking plants that were obviously very alien. It was just not quite what you would see in the Amazon. He couldn't tell just from looking, like usual, if this world had been terraformed by the Goa-uld or not.

It was loud too, Teal'c thought, compared to the cool serenity of the mountain base; loud with the noise of rustling foliage, water dripping, wild bird calls and animal noises.

Teal'c took a few steps forward—nothing very tall grew within range of the Stargate's energy backwash—and put his hand on a tree trunk. He followed it up, and couldn't see the top of the tree, or any of the trees. They disappeared into the canopy.

"I have never been in a forest like this before." he said, turning back to look at his team-mates.

'Me neither..." Sam Carter said.

They were looking around in wonder at the bright, full new world they had appeared on. Vines had even grown up around the Stargate; some had been ripped away by the force of its activation.

O'Neill put his hands in his pockets and declared, "Welcome to Jurassic Park!"

Sam made a face.

"What, Carter, don't like dinosaurs?" O'Neill asked her.

'Not really, sir." she said, shaking her head. Her short blonde hair poked out from under her hat. "Cassie and I turned it off when the T-Rex started eating everyone."

"What is Jurassic Park?" Teal'c inquired.

Meanwhile, DanielJackson was looking at the ground immediately around the Stargate. If he looked closely he could tell that there was a series of large flat stones laid into the ground. They might have inscriptions carved into the surface, but it was very worn and mostly overgrown. However, the stones seemed to be arrayed around the Stargate in a circle.

Making sure his P-90 was securely clipped in place and his bandana was tight around his head, Daniel followed the circle. Back in front of the others, he found that the line he was following diverged to head farther off into the forest. The stones laid into the ground led him past a few huge trees and ended at the DHD. It was intact, with only a big leafy vine growing all over it.

"Hey! Here's the DHD!" Daniel shouted back to the other three, who quickly found their way to him.

From there Sam spotted the crashed UAV. Mangled metal bits were lodged on a high branch. There would clearly be no salvaging of it. Besides, a small monkey-thing was sitting in the middle of it looking at them.

"Well, which was is our lost city of gold?"

"I don't know, Jack. Let's just pick a direction and go." Daniel said, shrugging.

"Okay." O'Neill checked his compass. "East. Carter take point. Everyone, stay in line-of-sight. File out."


	4. A Trap

The Road to...

Chapter 4

...A Trap...

They walked for most of the day. Jack and Teal'c had come prepared with machetes, but it was still pretty rough going. It drizzled off and on all day and the heat had not relented. SG-1 all felt grimy with mud and sweat. Daniel had tripped over a root, so was covered in the most mud.

Suddenly Jack, who was no in front, saw something silver move between the trees up ahead. He only got a glimpse but it was dull silver and definitely looked out of place...and sickeningly familiar. Before he could react, he saw another dull silver shape just before it disappeared behind greenery. It was a Jaffa staff weapon.

He raised his fist and crouched down. The rest of SG-1 followed his order. O'Neill signaled that he was going to creep forward to look at something. Stealthily moving to hide behind the huge buttress of a tree, in one smooth motion O'Neill latched his machete to his belt and took out his monocular. He sighted through it for a moment, and then passed it to MajorCarter.

She looked, then handed the monocular to Teal'c and said quietly, "It's a Jaffa patrol. They seem to be walking very slowly."

Teal'c watched the group of about eight Jaffa—there might be more behind that huge fern-thing—for a moment.

"It is a hunting party, MajorCarter. The Jaffa in the front, his black half-cape marks him as the Master Tracker." Teal'c observed.

"Are they tracking some kind of big game, like a safari?" Daniel asked.

"No." Teal'c answered, frowning slightly at the "culture-buff".

"Jaffa do not hunt wild game with staff weapons. To do so would be a desecration of the gods' blessed lands. They are likely following a fugitive or a rebel or traitor."

"Well, they look pretty lost to me." O'Neill said in low tones.

"Indeed." Teal'c agreed.

Meanwhile, the band of loyal Jaffa never noticed that they were being observed and slowly marched off to the northwest, quickly disappearing among the wild forest-growth.

"Should we go back, sir?" Carter asked.

Jack had been thinking. "I doubt they were searching for us, but they almost did find us. For once, we have a chance to avoid getting involved with the Goa-uld before they are shooting us. Before they even know we're here." he said.

"But, Jack, doesn't that also give us an opportunity to get close and see what is going on? We can find out where they came from and who they serve before they know we're here!" Daniel argued, though he really just didn't want to give up on finding El Dorado.

"Is that worth the risk? We don't know how many Jaffa there are out there!" the colonel said, clearly not convinced that he wouldn't be putting his team in the line of fire by not heading back to the Stargate right now.

"Sir, Daniel does have a point." MajorCarter spoke up. "Think of it as recon. We can hide in the forest and gather intelligence. If they aren't looking for us, then it's likely they won't find us if we're stealthy, sir."

Jack looked into the green distance overhead. 'They did just walk right by us. And I don't need anyone to tell me the value of some intelligence over the snakes."

Daniel looked excited.

Teal'c inclined his head. Gathering intelligence on Goa-uld activities seemed to him a much better mission than looking for an ancient city.

Seeing that they all agreed, Jack said, not quite reluctantly, "We'll continue this way close to the direction the patrol came from. Night will fall soon and we need to find some shelter, especially with Jaffa around. Tomorrow we'll walk and see what we see."

"Yes, sir." Sam took point and started in the direction the colonel had pointed.

Jack followed, then Daniel, who started saying, "We could still find El Dorado. What if that's what the Goa-uld, who sent out that patrol, is looking for? Or where it is? After all, remember how we found the gate co-ordinates on a—"

"Now we are stealth recon. That means silence." Jack informed him tersely.

Taking up the end of the line, Teal'c walked along as stealthily as he had been trained. He kept his dark brown eyes open and alert for any danger; treacherous terrain, enemy Jaffa, or veloceraptors. He may not have seen Jurassic park, but he had watched the Discovery Channel.

AN: So, you likey? Tell me what ya think! I'm doing good posting more, aren't I?


End file.
